I am grateful that I work and learn on the ancestral and unceded lands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nations in Burnaby and on the ancestral and unceded lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations in Port Moody
BLOOD SUGAR CONTROL (I)
2025-4-17
The principle of financial management is to live within your means, plan your expenses based on your income to avoid overspending and getting into debt. Adjusting the blood sugar index is the opposite. You should eat what you want and use what you can eat to relieve accumulated blood sugar.
Since I was diagnosed with diabetes in late 2009, I have enrolled in a two-day "Understanding Diabetes" course sponsored by the Health Bureau to improve my condition. It has been very useful. Adjust your diet according to the guidelines, and for six months after diagnosis, record the types and amounts of food you eat at different times of the day, and test your blood sugar index yourself to help understand your body's reactions and find out the patterns.
After three months of practical implementation, my doctor approved me to stop taking the medication. It has been fifteen years now, and my blood sugar is under control. I have lost weights, and my blood pressure and heart rhythm conditions have improved. In the process of recovery, I gained knowledge and realized some truths.
Index
The normal average blood sugar index range is as follows:
Five to ten when feeling full, which means the index is measured within two hours from the first bite of food.
Four to seven when fasting, which means the index is measured four hours after a meal.
Glycated hemoglobin (A1C) is below 5.7. The test is the average index of the past two to three months.
If A1C is between 5.7 and 6.5, it is latent diabetes, which means that the pancreatic function has been depleted by half.
If the index exceeds ten, this concentration begins to damage blood vessels and then affects related organs. Therefore, diabetes itself is not fatal, but it can be fatal or cause disability due to damage to organs or limbs.
The anti-rejection drug (Prednisone) I had to take after my liver transplant raised my blood sugar index to over 30, and I had to inject 100 units of insulin on my own. After stopping the medication three months later, the blood sugar index returned to the level before the operation.
Quota System
The functions and lifespans of all organs and limbs are limited. Simply put, it is a quota system. If you love to eat porridge, noodles, rice and sugar, and do not exercise, you will exhaust your pancreatic quota early. Long-term overtime work and lack of rest will definitely damage your heart. Frequent fatigue, irritability and staying up late will definitely damage the liver...etc. If health education from a young age can teach this principle, it should help everyone reduce excessive organ damage.
The Decisive Test
One test to confirm diabetes is to fast for ten hours, do a blood test, then rest for two hours and drink a designated sugary drink before testing again to measure the patient's pancreatic function. My index was higher than 13 that year, so the "disease" was established and the doctor prescribed me some medicine.
I love sweet and grain foods, have a big appetite, work too hard, don't get enough rest, am naturally irritable, and have a complicated life, so it is inevitable that I suffer from many illnesses. If I don't stop before the brink of the cliff, there will be no way out.
Fasting vs "Tailored Diet”
When dealing with any chronic illness, it is difficult to sustain the determination and courage to fight your way through hell. It requires psychological acceptance to be able to implement it. If the treatment of diabetes becomes fasting, it is definitely not ideal. Changing it to "when" eating, that is, what you should or can eat under what circumstances, and turning it into a joyful expectation, the effect will be better. Details will be discussed later.